


Atlantis Drabbles and Ficlets

by Pouncer



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Drabble Collection, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-14
Updated: 2009-12-14
Packaged: 2017-10-04 10:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pouncer/pseuds/Pouncer





	Atlantis Drabbles and Ficlets

#### For Cedara, _chocolate ice cream - Teyla/Elizabeth_

The onlookers let out a surprised buzz when the Daedelus crew rolled tubs past them. The resupply run had almost become a public holiday, scientists and military alike scorning work in favor of anticipation.

Doctor Weir was there to supervise (or possibly to mark especially favored items) and Teyla was there to observe her new comrades differences once again. Sergeant Flinkman, the mess hall overseer, gestured at the scrum, warning them to stand back.

"You'll get it at dinner, not before," he said.

Teyla looked at Weir and raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"Oh Teyla," Weir replied. "You'll _love_ Haagen-Dazs chocolate."

#### For Flatlanddan, _Something to do with Beckett. Bonus points if you include ice cream/cookies_

Afternoon tea was not negotiable, although Carson did make exceptions for medical emergencies. The balcony near the infirmary had acquired a small table and chairs, and he bustled out with a tray of provisions.

Athosian tea wasn't Darjeeling or Earl Grey, but it was tasty enough. Dr. Corrigan proved a surprising hand at baking. He waved off compliments about his ability to substitute ingredients with an airy, "This is nothing compared to making flatbread on P59-273."

The small group settled in to sip their tea and eat their shortbread. Maintaining a gloss of civilization amidst chaos lifted morale, after all.

#### For Tigerlady, _Elizabeth with (and can be gennish 'with') Lorne, Radek, Teyla, or Ronon_

Sheppard and McKay stormed out of the lab, arguing over something Elizabeth couldn't quite determine -- the odds of meeting this latest threat through science or which actor made the best James Bond?

She rubbed at her forehead and sighed.

Beside her, Radek pushed his glasses up his nose. "Children, yes?"

Elizabeth smiled. "Toddlers, even."

"Who haven't had a nap or a snack!" Radek was grinning now too.

"And who never get told _no_."

"We shall have to make sure they don't decide to draw on the walls with crayon," Radek said.

Their giggles weren't dignified, but they were needed.

#### For Rivier, _SGA and something about weapons, please. Like the taste / touch / sight / sound / smell of them_

The Beretta slides into his palm and before he can think, he's pulled the trigger. Twice. The Wraith collapses, Teyla sits up behind him, and Sheppard can breathe again.

Fucking space vampires. Sheppard _hates_ them. Bob here's only useful if he tells what he knows. Wraith don't respond to please.

Sheppard pulls the trigger again and again and again, correcting for recoil automatically. The stench of cordite wisps into his nose, mingled with Wraith.

He can hear his mouth saying words, demanding answers, but all he can feel is the weight of the gun in his hand. Time to reload.

#### For Akira, _Elizabeth and Radek on Earth_

No matter what time they went, there would be crowds. The trick was to wait until they thinned enough to get a good view.

Elizabeth couldn't help her coo of delight. The baby panda was the cutest thing she'd ever seen, and he was _climbing a tree_.

Radek wasn't looking at the panda. Radek was looking at Elizabeth, a fond grin quirking the corners of his mouth.

"You don't know how long we waited," she murmured. The zoo had been empty and sad (like Atlantis when they arrived) after Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing died.

"I think I do know."

Elizabeth smiled.  


#### For 20thcenturyvole, _Rodney/John, a morning_

Three moons hung low in the dawn sky, all smaller than Earth's guardian. Sheppard poked at their fire – taking last watch meant he mixed up the coffee. For all that Rodney proclaimed a love for MREs, he curled up his nose at instant coffee. And Sheppard needed the caffeine too.

Teyla and Ford both woke at first light. Sheppard had to go into their tent to wake Rodney. Moans and groans and grumbles met his efforts.

Sheppard would give it another five minutes then get ruthless. For now, he waved the mug around, hoping wafted fragrance would do the trick.  


#### For Rivier, _hands in pockets_ (McKay/Sheppard)

John always notices, even if he doesn't react: fabric pulled tight over a luscious ass.

But this time they're alone, and Rodney demands, "What?!" when he sees the quirked corner of John's mouth.

That almost deserves a full grin, but John manages stoicism. "They drill that out of us," John says, gesturing at Rodney's hips. "Well, they try to," John qualifies.

Rodney looks down, baffled. His head rises, pugnacious, ready to ask for clarification.

John places his forefinger over Rodney's lips, greatly daring even if the balcony _is_ deserted.

"No hands in pockets," John whispers confidingly, then steals a kiss.

#### For  Le Mousquetaire, _lost scene from Epiphany_ (McKay/Sheppard)

"No more MALPs-on-a-stick," Rodney decreed when they reached Sheppard's quarters.

Sheppard snorted. "Yeah." He rubbed at his face and thought of a real razor. A mirror. Water that didn't need to be boiled over a fire. God, he loved civilization.

Before he could make his way to the bathroom (_the bathroom!_), Sheppard was accosted by a limpet-like Rodney, who hugged with the same single-minded intensity he brought to solving scientific mysteries.

Sheppard stood, frozen for a second, then relaxed into the embrace.

"Don't do that again," Rodney said.

"I won't." Sheppard tucked his nose into Rodney's neck. "I missed you."

#### For Alyse, _something to do with 'you are the loop'_ (Weir/Zelenka)

He made her smile, Elizabeth came to understand, and sought him out for more than scientific consultations while Rodney was away.

Radek would look at her, hair wild and eyes kind, and stress melted away from her spine.

They shared tea together in the mess hall, and she led their conversation away from the approaching Wraith to time spent in Europe. Radek had a way of relating anecdotes, vivid enough for her to picture and a welcome escape.

She tried to repay him with tales of Byzantine negotiations, the foibles of nations writ small by zany diplomats.

Happiness grew, slowly.

#### For Rivier, _redeem Rodney's dignity_

The latest crisis was over, and all Rodney could do was sit in a stupor. It had been too close, again, and he'd really thought they'd all die in screaming agony.

"Hey, come on," Sheppard said, trying to get Rodney to stand with an urging hand to his shoulder.

"I think I'll just sit here for a while," Rodney said.

"Nah, we need food." Sheppard sounded unaffected by everything. "I heard they've got meatloaf – isn't that one of your favorites?"

Rodney nodded but didn't move.

"Come on, Rodney," Sheppard said. "After the way you saved us all, you deserve it."

#### For Slippyslope, _Rodney being stealthy _

Life-signs detector clutched in his hand, Rodney slipped through corridors like a ghost.

This project was too important for interruptions, and maintaining secrecy was vital to its success.

Zelenka had suspicions, but Rodney distracted him with gossip about Elizabeth's morning tea breaks with Teyla.

Ronon was a bigger worry, but Sheppard had some new training scheme and enlisted Ronon to beat up on the Marines, nicely occupying them both.

At last, Rodney made it to his destination, closed the door behind him, turned on the lights, and went to inspect the almost-completed personal jetpack.

Sheppard's birthday present would be legendary.

#### For Carolyn Claire, _post-John-talks-about-his-feelings_

The Daedalus hummed a quiet song barely audible in sick bay. Ronon lay on his stomach, head cradled by a pillow. He was loopy from the good drugs, and slept.

Sheppard sat next to the bed, grateful they'd arrived in time. He'd promised Ronon that he'd be safe from the Wraith, and the past few days had played out like a nightmare instead.

To see Sateda, broken high-rises and charred debris, illuminated Ronon's character. Everything he'd lost, everything he'd survived during his years as a Runner – Sheppard clenched his hands into fists and prepared to hold watch until Ronon woke.

#### For Mousewitchy, _Teyla, widows/widowers_

Harvest time, and the crops hung heavy in the fields. Life was so strange now, Athosians turned farmers after centuries of hiding their presence from the Wraith.

Teyla had grown up learning when and how to gather _linzat_ fruits from amidst a thicket, the quickest ways to trap the _hirsa_ and the _reclin_.

Halling stood beside her, watching Jinto examine the seedheads of this _wheat_.

"His mother would be proud," Teyla said, remembering Willa's sweet smile and the love she'd always shown her family.

"She would," Halling agreed, and called Jinto back to discover when they could begin to reap.

#### For Tenshinya, _something about Zelenka _

The option to take leave on Earth was offered to every member of the Atlantis expedition. Whether or not they took it depended on many things: marital status, dedication to research, stress levels.

Radek Zelenka declined vacation when the memo arrived in his inbox. It didn't take much thought; the round trip on the Daedalus lasted almost six weeks, with two weeks Earth-side. His parents were dead, his marriage collapsed even before the Soviet Union and Radek's flight to the West. His sister's brood of heathens was no draw.

Atlantis had become home. He liked it here and would stay.

#### For Walter, _Sheppard and knives_

After Ronon _and_ Ford twitted him aboard the hive ship, Sheppard began sliding a knife into his right boot. He also practiced with throwing knives, specially weighted to fly straight and true.

He preferred guns (he preferred surface-to-air missiles, really), but sometimes they jammed. A blade gave otherwise bare hands more ability to harm.

Sheppard knew Rodney looked upon him as some sort of military savant, but John understood that he was too frequently overmatched and unprepared. He'd fight until death to protect Atlantis, and if a second knife allowed him to hold out one minute more, he'd take it.  


#### 150 words, based on a line by Alyse 

Radek doubted he would have noticed, except they were so _blatant_ about it. Huddling together during breakfast and dinner, long walks through cleared corridors, fluttering eyelashes – they wouldn't know discretion if it walked up and bit them on the nose.

The Saturday evening cocktail party swirled around Radek, and he took a sip of his beer. It was nice to have access to Earth brands again, even if some people (McNab the Marxist reactionary) complained about consumer capitalism spreading to Pegasus. Radek had grown up under communism; he loved the glut of goods.

As did somebody else, if he judged the squeals emitting from the corner right. Miko was jumping up and down, a small box clutched in her hand. That new Major who wasn't Lorne stood in front of her, smiling like he'd just won the lottery.

Ah, love. At least now they'd stop thinking they were fooling anybody.

#### Based on a line by Alyse 

Daffy grins adorned the local's faces at the meet-and-greet. Rodney gritted his teeth and forced a tight smile. Would Sheppard never admit that the power readings over the hill were far more important than these yokels?

_Military._

Teyla cooed over a baby some crone presented for inspection.

Sheppard was now flirting with a nubile maiden – irate relatives to follow, no doubt.

Oh, and there went Ronon snacking on what looked like a Satsuma. Lovely.

This planet would kill Rodney, who tried to study power distribution curves and abstain from yelling.

Was he the only one not out of his skull?

#### For  DJ Fanboy, Sheppard and Ronon at the movies

"Oh, hey," Sheppard said. "This one is cool."

Ronon raised an eyebrow, skeptical.

"No, really," Sheppard insisted. "These aliens come to Earth and pretend to be friendly, but they're really lizards who want to eat people."

"Eat people?" Ronon asked.

"Yeah, and there are freedom fighters and World War II parallels –"

Ronon interrupted, "You have tales of aliens _eating people_ and you still came here?"

"Well, yeah," Sheppard said, surprised. "If it's not aliens, it's monsters in the forest or strangers with candy."

Ronon reflected on the delights of candy for a moment. Candy. Wraith.

These people were crazy.

[Sheppard is referring to _V_; see below]

#### For The Grrrl, Lorne and cupcakes [I abandoned word count – this ended up at 225 words]

Dr. Bliss _("No, really. My parents are insane.")_ Harper loved to bake. Flour, sugar, leavening, flavoring – she tried all sorts of combinations every week. She thought cupcakes were the perfect baking form – small and delectable, capable of infinite variations.

Now that she was _in Atlantis_, in _the Pegasus Galaxy_, her weekly baking ritual was more challenging, but she was determined to continue. The kitchen kept her sane through her graduate program in chemistry; shadowy Wraith and Replicators would have to submit to the power of her mixing spoon too.

Plus, handing out cupcakes made her popular with cute guys who had limited dating options.

Take Major Lorne over there – clean-cut, all-American, smart, able to defend the city against all comers. Talk about luscious. And he had a weakness for cupcakes, if she could trust the way he nabbed one after another from the tray she set out in the mess hall.

Look at him peel the paper away from sponge, hold the cupcake up to his mouth, inhale deeply. Bliss swore she saw a hint of tongue before he took a bite, and then his face transformed into an expression of pure pleasure.

Bliss wanted to see that expression again. And she didn't want a cupcake to be the cause. It was a good thing she liked a challenge. Lorne wouldn't know what hit him.

#### For Sithdragn, Carson and Teyla 

_Phantoms Linger_

Dr. Beckett's hands were gentle on Teyla's thigh as he cleaned the wound, but she couldn't stop her hiss of pain as he probed the neat edge left by the bullet.

He looked up, worried, and Teyla nodded at him to continue. Beckett pattered about tissue damage and muscles, but she could see the regret in his eyes at the loss of Barroso.

"Everyone was affected," she ventured.

Beckett's mouth turned down at the corners. "Not like me," he said. "I could have saved him."

McKay groaned across the clearing. A final tuck of her bandage, and Beckett was gone.

#### For The Spike, Team, Teyla pov on her boys

"Look at the snow." Rodney sounded dismayed.

"Canadian," John said sagely. "Wuss."

Teyla smirked and settled in to watch their antics.

"Isn't that a cold place?" Ronon asked, knowing the answer.

"Yes," Rodney said, "but I spent a good portion of my life in the desert. Sand. Hot." His face fell further, probably contemplating their walk back to the gate.

"This barely counts as snow." Ronon rumbled, sure.

"I don't know." John lacked conviction.

"Our feet will get wet," Rodney said, downcast.

Enough. "And then we will be back in Atlantis, warm and dry," Teyla told them, and started walking.

#### For  Cedara, Zelenka and Sheppard - stolen chocolate

John looked down, startled. "Where did you get this?"

Chocolate was a precious commodity, smuggled in personal belongings and traded fiercely for favors and even more valuable items, like alcohol. John had thought Dr. Biro had cornered the market.

"I have my ways." Zelenka's accented voice sounded even more mysterious than usual. "I thought you might give to McKay. He is sulking."

John didn't think that McKay needed any gifts, not after the way he'd treated Chaya. Okay, so she _was_ an Ancient. McKay had still been rude to a guest.

"Make my life easier, Major." Zelenka was earnest. "Please."

#### For Serial Karma, ring, gale, tower, billow

The central tower of Atlantis rang like a bell as the gale hit, weather worse than any since the storm.

Elizabeth looked up, startled at the mellow chime vibrating through her bones. So many mysteries yet to be solved, but this one worried her. What if there were structural problems?

McKay reported soon enough that the city was safe.

Elizabeth journeyed up to the top of the tower to see for herself.

Rain lashed the crystal windows, billowing sheets driven by the wind.

Exhilaration rose inside Elizabeth at nature's fury. Atlantis had survived millennia; this challenge would be met too.

#### For Plum, Lorne/Novak, body painting [vague spoilers for Sunday]

The brush tickled, Lorne was surprised to note. For all the times he'd dipped bristles into oils and daubed them on canvas, it had taken one slightly offbeat scientist to come up with this brilliant idea.

Lindsay giggled at the way he flinched, and Lorne schooled himself to stillness. He had promised.

The melted chocolate felt warm at first, but quickly cooled. Lindsay was decorating his arm at the moment, but she'd looked him over with narrow eyes earlier, like she was organizing her plan of attack.

The brush moved to his ribs, delicate.

Oh yeah, he's in serious trouble.

#### For Overnighter, John/Rodney, bonding in the downtime

After enduring yet another viewing of the famed Hail Mary pass, Rodney's had enough.

"Why do we always end up watching football?" he demands of Sheppard, who sits there looking content.

Sheppard implies that Rodney's an idiot with a raised eyebrow. "Because it's the best game ever?"

"Harrumph." Rodney knows he should be able to think of a counter-example, but the brutal slog stunned him into insensibility.

Maybe the way to win is changing the playing field.

"Did I tell you about this thing Bates' exploration team found?"

Sheppard takes the bait, and Rodney follows him to the labs, smirking.  


#### For  DJ Fanboy, John has a brief run-in with Woolsey after the Replicator Incident

John stands on his favorite balcony, marveling at the control tower's swift restoration. Replicators aren't all bad – who knew?

His hands tremble slightly, adrenaline crash still better than coming down from meds post-mission in Afghanistan.

A pointed cough makes John turn, and there's Woolsey, more rumpled than technocrat.

"You're lucky," Woolsey states, all priss and sourness, "that General O'Neill has a history of venturing off against orders."

John's eyebrows defied gravity while reading SG-1 mission reports. Not that his future had even crossed his mind when planning this craziness.

"I know," John says.

Nothing mattered then except getting Atlantis back.

#### For The Grrrl, post-Tao of Rodney [double drabble, McKay/Sheppard]

The balcony was sheltered and cozy, perfect for breaks.

"We wouldn't have been _good_," Sheppard said out of the blue. "If you'd --" he ran a hand over his hair, arm brushing against Rodney's sleeve. "If you'd died. Or ascended."

Rodney blinked at Sheppard, startled.

"Either way," Sheppard continued, grim and determined, "we wouldn't have been _good_."

Rodney's mouth opened and closed while he tried to catch up with the conversation.

Finally -- "Like you're one to talk!" Sheppard was so far ahead in the "almost died" sweepstakes that Rodney was almost _offended_ that he was bringing this up.

Rodney asked, "How many times have you --" and of course Sheppard had to interrupt.

"That's _different_," he said.

Their eyes met, and Rodney's pulse accelerated to _zoom_. Greatly daring, his fingers drifted to Sheppard's collarbone.

"No," Rodney said. "It's not."

Sheppard glanced down and away toward the floor of the balcony, and Rodney drank in the line of his profile, the curve of his eyelashes.

"It is," Sheppard said, looking back at Rodney, and then their lips met and the argument disappeared in a rush of heat and wonder and, "Oh my God, what were you _waiting_ for?"

#### For Tenshinya, Teyla and her father

"Now," Papa told her very seriously, "you must be sure to mind your manners with the Trehar."

Teyla nodded and held onto his hand a little tighter. It was her first trip through the Ring of the Ancestors and she wanted to make her papa proud.

He stopped before the plinth, and Teyla went up on her tip-toes to watch the sequence.

The Ring flared blue and magic, and she started to smile so hard her cheeks ached.

"The Ancestors gave us a great gift, eh my love?"

"Oh, yes," Teyla said, and they walked through the shimmering veil together.

#### For Trobadora, Teyla and Bates

Teyla did not like the way Sergeant Bates watched her.

The expression on his face was always set and bitter, as if he wanted to toss her through the Ring of the Ancestors with her people.

Never mind that Major Sheppard and Doctor Weir were convinced of her value to the city.

Never mind that they would have starved were it not for her trading skills and her contacts.

Never mind that the Wraith plaguing their earlier missions had not been Teyla's doing.

Sergeant Bates continued to watch her.

Teyla's blood began to simmer.

He needed to learn better manners.

#### For Roaringmice, Teyla and Ronon

"We became friends." A stark statement of fact, eliding all the difficulties between Teyla and Elizabeth when they first met.

Ronon's eyes held steady. "I know."

Teyla closed hers. "And now we are to forget her? I am accustomed to those lost to the Wraith, but–" Her voice broke.

Ronon took Teyla's hand, a silent reassurance.

"Was there nothing you could do? To help her?"

He shook his head. "The Replicators--" he started.

"But Rodney? He couldn't?"

"No. And she told us to go."

She had known the answer, but it didn't make the empty office hurt less.

#### For Wojelah, Teyla's introduction to Greek Mythology

  
"So you do not believe in the Ancestors?" Teyla asked, bewildered.

"There are many, many gods worshiped on Earth," Dr. Grodin replied. "My favorites are the Olympians, from Greece."

"How do you show your devotion?"

"Oh, I don't. Not like that. It's just – the stories are marvelous. Conflict, adventure, human weaknesses made into epic cycles."

"Adonis," Dumais said, grinning. "Greek gods are the _ideal_ of male gorgeousness. Get Peter to show you."

Teyla blinked.

"Greece is the birthplace of Western civilization," Grodin said. "And the source of the Atlantis myth."

Now _that_ was interesting. "Perhaps you could tell me more?"

#### For gblvr, Zelenka/Lorne, Disney.  


"But," Radek said, "have you read the original fairy tales?"

"Nah," Evan said. "I was more into the Swiss Family Robinson and their island of improbable fauna."

Radek snorted. "Improbable is exactly the right word to describe Disney's Cinderella. Mice and birds singing?" Radek shook his head. "There should be _blood_ and _guts_, and horror, to scare the children."

"You're kind of scaring me, Doc," Evan said. Radek scrunched his nose to move his glasses closer to his eyes.

"This is a bad thing?" Radek asked. The smile Evan gave him in return was more than enough of an answer.

### Five Significant Kisses John Sheppard Shared

1\. The first _real_ kiss of John Sheppard's life was with sixth grade classmate Holly Robinson. It was during recess, and his best buddy Scott had dared him. Johnny strode up to Holly (the prettiest girl in the school) and stammered nonsense until something inside him snapped and he darted forward. Their lips smacked together and then she hauled back and punched Johnny in the face. He had a black eye for two weeks.

  
2\. His grandmother lay in her bed, barely breathing. She'd been sick for a long time, and his mother had brought John with her to visit. He'd whined, because what fourteen year old wants to spend valuable summer loafing time visiting a _grandmother_? Especially one he barely ever saw. They always lived too far away, in isolated communities close to the airbases where his father was stationed.

John still remembers the feel of his grandmother's skin when he leaned over to kiss her cheek: thin and powdery and dry. She died in the night, and John watched his mother weep over her cereal bowl the next morning.

  
3\. The Tresidada of P4X-837 insisted on bestowing the Kiss of Peace, a Venerable Ritual of the Ancestors, at the beginning and end of every negotiating session. Since they grew a monster surplus of tava beans, Dr. Weir had informed Major Sheppard, with a steely note in her voice, that he would follow their customs and he would be happy about it. He tried to tell her that they had no conception of oral hygiene, but she wouldn't listen.

The cold sore lasted for weeks, and McKay made fun of him the entire time.

  
4\. When the crazy flowers started emitting pollen they looked scarily like old-fashioned garden misters, the ones John's mother had used to prevent any and all aphids, black spot, and powdery mildew from gaining a foothold on her beloved roses. Clouds of particles invaded the air, and they couldn't be easily avoided.

If the pollen made John sneeze, it sent Rodney into a wheezing and coughing fit. Even Teyla made delicately repressed _choo_ noises. Ronon was too tall to be affected. Finally, John caught his breath, but Rodney was still gasping and flailing about.

"Jesus _Christ_, Rodney," Sheppard snapped, then Rodney's eyes met his and guilt swept over John. "You two," he said to Teyla and Ronon, "go check out that tree, okay?"

They exchanged strange looks but headed out. John waited only until their backs were turned before he had a hand on Rodney's shoulder.

"It'll be okay," John said, but Rodney continued to look miserable. "Hey," John said. "Hey," then tipped Rodney's chin up and brought their mouths together. It was a gentle kiss, a distraction, and when John broke away Rodney could breathe again.

  
5\. Sheppard was held, motionless and restrained, in the Asuran cell with nothing to do but wonder when they would start the interrogation-through-vision. This time he should know how to fight them, how to withhold information, but it never got any less scary when his brain was being messed with.

The woman who walked into the cell was beautiful and cold, cold as Antarctica. He waited for her hand to stab toward his forehead, but she leaned down with closed eyes and placed her lips on his.

### Five Things Ford Misses about Atlantis

1\. The way the sun set over the West Pier in a sky so clear Aiden thought he could see individual feathers on a seagull gliding above the waves.

  
2\. Movie nights with Sheppard and McKay, because they argued over _everything_. Relative acting talent, plot holes, whether the sets and costumes worked – Teyla watched them with a puzzled look in her eyes, and Aiden bit back his laughter. Sheppard seemed easy-going but Aiden didn't want to test it. Getting on your Co's bad side with no way to transfer out wouldn't be a good idea.

  
3\. Training with the Marine squads. Being part of something larger than himself. Having someone trustworthy to watch his back. No matter how much Aiden tried to recreate that feeling, he never felt as safe as he had with fellow soldiers. With his team. And he had to give the orders now, instead of relying on Sheppard's. Aiden hadn't known how frightening that was, to rely solely on yourself.

  
4\. The way Markham complained when a new alien vegetable showed up in the mess hall. Ford thought Markham must have been one of those kids who would only eat Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and hot dogs – he wanted everything predictable and monotonous. Ford always tried a bite, just like his grandma made him when he was little (_"How do you know if you don't like it unless you try?"_ He hears her voice every time he pauses before biting into the pub fare on yet another world. Peaches had been snarled at for years, because fuzzy skinned fruit was _weird_, until he finally gave into her prodding and moaned around the complex flavors bursting over his tongue. She baked him a peach pie the next day, and served it with vanilla ice cream after supper.)

  
5\. The possibility of going home one day.

### Morphine Dreams

Pain, stabbing, slicing, so overwhelming all John can do is gasp. His legs aren't working properly. He has to get up. He has to keep going. He has to …

"Major!" A stifled moan as hands press into his side. Sparkles fill his vision, and the voices babbling over his head melt into cacophony, then fall silent.

  


* * * 

Endless drifting and dreaming.

_Mother. Father. Their house on the base in Germany. The little girl he played hopscotch with, counting out _one, two, three_, her red curls bouncing. The ocean, waves roaring into sand, Daddy lifts Johnny above his head with a shout. Johnny squeals, clutches close, and Daddy tumbles him onto the blanket. Mommy smiles at them._

Constant beeping. Laser-shine straight into his eyes, voices demanding his attention, pricks against his skin.

John retreats.

  


* * * 

_Sand again, wind-blown grit that gets into the rotor of his chopper, gums up the electronics, dulls the blades._

The sun rages down and John's grateful for his buzzed hair. Fucking Saddam. Why'd he want Kuwait anyway?

"Lieutenant!" His CO barks and John stiffens to attention in reflex drilled so deep he can't think before responding.

"Sir," John says, face forward, shoulders square.

"You ready for a mission, Sheppard?"

Anything to fly. Anything.

  


* * * 

Hushed murmurs, and the pain recedes enough for John to open his eyes and see.

Atlantis. The infirmary. He'd been on a mission.

"Teyla? Rodney?" His voice croaks and his lips are chapped.

Sudden flurry, and Beckett's face looms overhead. John shrinks back into the pillow.

"Major. They're fine. All your team are fine, I promise. Let me look at you."

John endures the examination, lets the ice chips melt in his mouth, stares around with dull curiosity.

Beckett lists off John's injuries, his condition, the fact that he's been unconscious for three days.

_Three days dead and now he is risen_, John thinks. Just like the Bible stories his mother used to spin before bedtime. John wants to giggle at that, wonders how much morphine runs through his veins.

  


* * * 

Recovery takes too long.

Ford consults with John every afternoon, so obviously worried that he's doing something wrong that John considers calling Doctor Weir in to reassure him. Or to quash Sergeant Bates attempts at undermining Ford's authority.

McKay stops by in the evening, blurts a few awkward words and disappears.

Teyla brings nothing but her serene smile and an aura of calm John soaks in like parched dirt absorbing rain.

Weir tells John, "Good job," and it doesn't sound like sarcasm.

  


* * * 

The first thing John does when Beckett sets him free is go to the jumper bay. Steps aboard a jumper, shaky and dizzy, and sits in the pilot chair. Calls up the display, puts his hands on the controls. Imagines flight. Soon. Soon.

When the rip in his side doesn't seep blood and he can eat food without wanting to puke.

Nothing else matters when he's in the sky.

### New Arrivals Must Clear Customs

The briefings started the minute they disembarked from the Daedelus. "Atlantis 101," soon to be followed by "Atlantis for Dummies" but first they get the gene therapy and some free time.

Doctor Beckett injected all the new arrivals (all that agreed to it) and told them to wait a few hours, return to the infirmary, and try to turn on a life signs detector he'd liberated.

Major Lorne wandered the halls of Atlantis, found his quarters by accident, and unpacked his belongings, which had been delivered by unknown means. Then he went to find lunch. He might as well get acclimated to Atlantean Standard Time. The mess hall was well lit, full of tables, and served by a cafeteria-style line. Lorne grabbed a tray and started to shuffle his way through a scrum of strangers. He caught snippets of conversation while he chose between the blue vegetable and the purple one, the mystery meat or the mystery fish.

_"As if Teyla would even _consider _ going out with him!"_

"I know _. It's kind of pathetic, really." _

The mess hall chefs looked at Lorne with narrow eyes when he tried to ask questions about the food. Okay, they'd been isolated for a year, they'd have developed customs. Traditions. Lorne could cope.

_"-- you hear anything about Bates' condition?"_

"Yeah, they said he's doing well in rehab. He can walk around his room now."

"Awesome. Did he get the care package?" Dirty snickers were the only reply.

Tray filled with unknown food ( _You've eaten stranger on missions for the SGC, Major. Suck it up _), Lorne tried to locate a place to sit. This was worse than the first day of school. Join an established group and risk shunning? Go independent and look like a loser?

Lorne decided on independent – a spot against a far wall, where he could observe the denizens of the city.

The food tasted weird. Of course the food tasted weird. Atlantis had run out of Earth-provided groceries months ago, and the Daedelus' cargo holds were filled mostly with weapons and medical supplies.

A group clothed in tan walked past, chattering about _metabolomes _ and _non-coding introns _ and _cellular proteomes from M1K-439 _. Lorne blinked, and took his last bite of blue vegetable.

Time to locate the infirmary again. Why didn't they hand out maps during Atlantis 101?

A few wrong turns, and few brief conversations with people who took pity on the poor lost Major, and Lorne washed up against the shores of the infirmary, not battered but perhaps a little bruised.

He hovered in the doorway to Doctor Beckett's office and cleared his throat.

The doctor looked up. "Yes? Oh, right, you're off the Daedelus." Beckett punched a few keys on his laptop, then reached into a drawer. "Here. Catch."

A box-shaped projectile flew at Lorne, who put up his hands in self-defense.

"Sorry about that," Beckett said. "I swear I'm better with close work."

Oh God. Beckett was a surgeon too. Lorne made a vow never to get wounded, then stared at the rectangle in his hands. It showed two blinking dots in the center of a display, three or four other dots below them.

"Did it work?" Beckett asked, stepping around the desk and peering into Lorne's hands. "It did! Bloody marvelous."

"What does this mean?" Lorne asked. They'd explained it, before he left Earth, but headquarters never knew the practical things the men in the field knew.

"It means life here will be much easier for you," Beckett smiled.

Lorne smiled back. Being able to light things up with a touch was freaky, but maybe he'd get used to it. He'd gotten used to aliens with glowing eyes. And Unas. After that, this would be easy. Sure it would.

### Alt-Cetacean Relations

Water flows, cold and salty, over flukes. A firm swish of his tail, and he rises to the barrier, inhales and blows vapor back out again.

Dive again, and circle the krilla, exhaling bubbles all the while. Spiral inwards and inwards and inwards until it is meet to open mouth. Strain water to extract krilla, then swallow. Sing a Feeding Song, and listen for the Others' reply. They have too long been silent.

Currents flow, chill and warm layers to idle among. Moan a Mourning Song.

Drifting, he allows himself to ascend close to the barrier, then pauses.

A shape mars the roof of the world, ovoid with sloshing flukes. Large, larger than the ones who flit between salt home and breathing place, who call with chirps and cheeps.

The Others emulated the gruefa traveling on tarn fins, shapes to safely traverse the barrier. This is smaller but rouses memories of times when the Others swam and played, lured him upwards with mating cries then greeted with joyful dance.

Circle, float, observe. A small form shocks the barrier, dives deep, approaches. Watch the swimmer: small coral tendrils flare at one end. Anemone circles reach, touch skin. Shock of reminisce: she is Other.

No bubbles break her form. This is wrong. She must rise to the breathing place or fall forever.

Nudge upwards, near to the shape.

Carol a Greeting Song, circling. Dive deep.

Surface again, and leap for delight.

### Fireworks

Explosions sparked and boomed while Radek raced through Atlantis' corridors.

"_Neprogramovatelný terminàl_." If only Peter Grodin were still here, none of this would be happening. Grodin would have noticed the error logs compiling, would have alerted Radek _before_ the fireworks started.

Just as well Rodney and Sheppard and Weir were away on Earth briefing the SGC about life in the Pegasus Galaxy for the past year. McKay would have been insufferable in this situation. And Radek could handle it. He could.

  


* * * 

Teyla looked up when Radek trailed back into the control room, brushing the soot off his uniform jacket.

"Dr. Zelenka," she said, eying him with worry. "Is all well?"

Radek collapsed against a wall and scratched at his scalp with both hands. That had been too close.

"Dr. Zelenka?" Teyla asked again.

He sighed. "It is fine. Now."

The blond Canadian sergeant who sat in Grodin's chair hunched his shoulders as Radek approached him.

"Next time," Radek said seriously, "let me double-check your work."

The sergeant winced and nodded.

"Perhaps," Teyla said, "we should go eat lunch?" She smiled at Radek and her eyes sparkled.

One crisis averted. Who knew how many would follow? Radek should marshal his strength for the future. He nodded and let Teyla lead him to the mess hall. Roast pork loin was on the menu. Real pork, from pigs.

His day was looking up.

[_Neprogramovatelný terminàl_ = idiot terminal]

### **Coddled, Scrambled, Fried, or Dyed**

"Major," Ford yelped, and then he was gone.

Sheppard turned from where he'd been observing McKay's cranky mutterings in a long-deserted lab and cocked his head. "Huh," he said.

Teyla rose from her kneeling posture on the floor, wiping her hands on her pants. "Major Sheppard?"

"Yeah?" His eyebrows furrowed.

"Where is Lieutenant Ford?" Her curiosity seemed mild.

"I don't know. And I don't really care." Sheppard giggled. He should feel shocked, he knew, or concerned, but it was really kind of funny. _The Disappearing Lieutenant_, see him now or lose your chance!

McKay thumped the terminal he was attempting to access and grumbled something under his breath. "Why couldn't they have left an instruction manual?" he said, plaintively, to the ceiling.

"What fun would that be, Rodney?" His drawl was getting more pronounced and Sheppard had to watch that, had to stay in charge. Him in charge. Hee.

There went another giggle.

McKay turned and his eyes narrowed. "Hey. Where did Ford go?"

Sheppard shrugged, and draped himself over a countertop. "Do you like to play videogames, Rodney? I hear some of the Marines snuck a Playstation through the wormhole." A smile crept over his face. "They might have flight simulators!" And oh, wouldn't that be cool. Not as cool as taking an Apache out to train, but nifty as the puddlejumpers were, Sheppard sometimes longed for the swoopy joy of a dive in flight, a jig, a jag, firing off missiles to hit targets _one, two, three_.

Woah.

"Okay," Sheppard said. "Something is wrong."

"Do you think so?" McKay asked, observing his hand with careful attention. "Hey, look at the way the tendons move!" He wiggled his fingers and poked at the back of his hand.

Teyla turned in circles, swishing her arms back and forth. She hummed as she moved, a tuneful melody permeating the air and turning Sheppard's bones to elastic.

"We dance when we sow," she informed Sheppard solemnly. "It is a sacred duty to the Ancestors, beseeching their protection until the crops mature." She balanced on one booted foot, pointed the other foot and extended her leg parallel to the floor. Her knee hinged, her toes moved close to her other knee, and she pirouetted, laughing.

"This is easier than just-plowed dirt," she cried, and threw herself forward to bounce off a wall.

Things got stranger then.

  


* * * 

Shortly after the lights cut off, Zelenka's head poked through doors that had been forced to open enough to admit him.

Sheppard observed from his perch on the countertop.

Zelenka muttered something in Czech, pushed his glasses further up his nose, and shone a flashlight around. Rodney snored on the floor, curled up in a little ball. Teyla was braiding her hair into a kajillion little braids, sucking on the end of one strand she'd finished.

"Hey there," Sheppard said, and waved his hand in welcome. "It's fun here."

Dr. Weir's voice rang through the door, "Are they okay?"

"No clue," Zelenka shrugged and Sheppard giggled again.

A clucking conversation in the corridor outside, birds pecking over grain, and Sheppard could really go for some scrambled eggs. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day, after all.

But wait! They wanted to play tag! Sheppard would _not_ be IT, he wouldn't.

  


* * * 

"Really, Rodney," Weir said, piercing icicles into Sheppard's skull, "don't you know better than to activate unknown Ancient technology? After everything –"

Rodney interrupted her with a moan. "Please. Not so loud," he breathed. Sheppard agreed silently. Quiet. Quiet would be good. He was careful to keep his eyes closed, because the red glow outside his eyelids was already too bright.

"Elizabeth dear," Dr. Beckett said, "Maybe they should rest a while longer?" The sound of footsteps retreating, and Sheppard caught whispers about _sonic manipulation_ and _irresponsible_ and _crazy Ancients_ and _Thank God Ford left when he did._

Sheppard sank back into sleep and thought about breakfast.


End file.
